SS④ Celestine’s Melancholy Moment
This was before entering the Royal Academy.
In the Royal Capital of the Aiwood Kingdom, at the heart of the Royal Castle, a woman was clutching her head.
“Haa… Prince Rodel is truly a handful…”
The one with a grimace at her desk was Celestine Crocus, the daughter of the Crocus Duke House, and the fiancée of Rodel Aiwood, the Third Prince of the Aiwood Kingdom.
A mountain of documents was piled up in front of Celestine.
These were originally the work Rodel should have been doing, but because he was slacking off, it had been passed on to his fiancée, Celestine.
“If only he would handle them systematically, little by little… Why does he accumulate so much?”
If one were to describe Rodel Aiwood in a single word, it would be “Foolish Prince.”
His personality was arrogant. He didn’t do his job as a prince but insisted on his rights as royalty.
He was lecherous and always chasing after women. He had even caused problems by assaulting maids and female civil officials.
His only advantage was being an exceptional Magician.
No, this couldn’t be considered a merit. Rather, if something displeased him, he would throw a tantrum and unleash his magic.
“I feel like he was a kinder person when he was a child…”
Celestine sighed, pressing her chest.
Celestine had also been assaulted by Rodel once.
Her dress was torn, and she was pushed down… but at that time, a nearby guard rushed to her rescue, and she managed to escape unharmed.
The memory of being nearly violated by a man’s violence was etched in her mind as a bitter trauma.
The reason Celestine was engaged to Rodel was due to the late Queen Dowager.
She, who had once enjoyed great prosperity and was still revered by several influential figures even in death, had forced the engagement.
Moreover, the engagement, made through a special method called a Magical Contract, could not be broken by Celestine’s side.
(Even so, if my father put his full effort into it, we might be able to do something… but without a doubt, the country would be divided.)
Among the Queen Dowager’s worshippers were influential nobles like Marquis Aiger.
If the Crocus Duke House forcibly broke the engagement arranged by the Queen Dowager, Marquis Aiger would certainly object.
“Excuse me, Miss Celestine, a letter has arrived from the Royal Academy.”
“Thank you for your trouble. Please put it there.”
“Yes… Excuse me.”
A servant entered the office, delivered a letter, and left.
The Royal Academy… from which Celestine would be enrolling in spring.
Upon checking the contents, it stated that they wanted her to give a speech as the representative of the new students at the entrance ceremony.
“I don’t mind giving a speech, of course… but Prince Rodel is likely to get upset again.”
Celestine sighed, for what felt like the hundredth time today.
Rodel was excessively proud, so he would rage about why Celestine was the representative of the new students instead of him.
He probably wouldn’t cause a scene at the entrance ceremony… but he would likely do something to harass her.
“Surely, he wouldn’t throw mud at me, would he… He’s not a child.”
Celestine gave a wry smile, but a fool is a fool because they don’t understand the foolishness of their actions.
She returned the letter to its envelope and placed it on the desk, causing one of the documents on it to fall to the floor.
“Oh dear, how clumsy of me.”
Celestine picked up the document but tilted her head at its contents.
“Oh… this is from Marquis Rosemary…?”
It wasn’t a document but a notice from the Rosemary Marquis House.
The content was… that the Rosemary Marquis’s Sisters, Viola and Primula, had become engaged.
They had gone to the trouble of notifying Rodel of this in an official document.
“Ah… I see. As expected of Marquis Rosemary, he’s very thorough.”
Presumably, it was a warning.
Viola and Primula already had fiancés. Therefore, it was to remind the lecherous prince not to approach them.
Celestine had met Viola and Primula before. Both were exceptionally Beautiful Girls.
If the two caught Rodel’s eye, he might try to make advances on them.
(But, now that they’ve notified him with an official document, he can’t use the excuse ‘I didn’t know they had fiancés’… That’s what it means.)
This notice probably hadn’t reached Rodel’s eyes.
But… even so, it was an official document. The contents would remain as a formal record.
If Rodel were to lay a hand on the sisters, they would be justified in retaliating, saying he tried to make advances on someone who already had a fiancé.
“We notified you in advance,” so it wouldn’t be a problem to reprimand him somewhat strongly… that was the implication.
“The name of the fiancé is… Rest-san, is it…”
It was an unfamiliar name, but since the surname wasn’t written, perhaps he was a Commoner.
Since Marquis Rosemary was entrusting his two daughters to him, he must be a very reliable person.
“For a doting Marquis-sama to entrust both his older and younger daughters to him… I wonder what kind of person he is? He must be kind and skilled in magic…”
Celestine muttered such words, with a somewhat envious expression.
How much better it would have been if her own fiancé was a reliable and kind person.
“Rest-san… I’d like to meet him and talk to him once.”
Celestine imagined the face of the yet-unseen boy named Rest, slightly easing the stiffness in her face caused by work fatigue.
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